Mobile is a new and powerful presence. And given the speed at which it’s permeated our lives, particularly when you look at smartphone penetration, you’d think it would be a godsend for brand marketers. After all, mobile has enabled them to reach consumers practically any time of day, and that pool of customers is growing by the minute.

But because mobile is a new medium, many of the measures that brand marketers use to guide their investments elsewhere are either not present or not mature in mobile, and this is limiting investment. At the heart of the matter is understanding the extent to which mobile can raise brand awareness—and ultimately sales—with a desired audience. This requires more than measures of activity unique to mobile use—it requires metrics that marketers can tie to performance and compare with other media such as TV and online.

Sticking to this core principle of using comparable performance metrics is essential, and marketers will be best served by working with agencies and media partners who share that philosophy and the belief in using proven metrics to determine results.

While mobile advertising spending will surely grow in the near term regardless of how it’s measured, only sound performance metrics that facilitate cross-media comparisons will lead marketers to invest in the medium to its full potential, and capitalize on the full opportunity this new medium affords.